azalea turns 10: celebrations and ear piercing

we had a fairly low-key work/school week last week, but a busy weekend. we've had a mix of sun and clouds and rain and temps in the upper 40s/ low 50s. i'm antsy for it to get warmer, but seattle can be all over the place until july, so i should probably just be patient. wednesday afternoon the kids dragged me off the couch to play baseball at the park. ashford had practice on tuesday and saturday.

 

 

thursday we went to webster park with our friends kay, wyatt, and fritz. it was a beautiful day and the trees are really showing off this week. 

 azalea turned 10 on friday and i can hardly believe it. most years her birthday just feels like adding a year, but 10 is hitting me hard. i've loved every stage with her (ok, maybe not so much age 3 when she was the ultimate contrarian - lol), but she is just such a joy and the thought of her going off to college in 8 years makes me feel so sad. i know she will always be my baby, but time is moving too fast! one more year of elementary school then middle school and high school. hold me! 

this is her second pandemic birthday. whew! at least we aren't in lockdown like last year. at 10 she loves spending time with friends + family, playing soccer, reading, rollerblading, all pasta, playing Roblox & Exploding Kittens, and is still an early riser most days ;)

azalea at 0-2-4-6-8-and 10

azalea was very excited leading up to the big day. she even picked out her outfit a week ahead of schedule :) after school on friday she had a zoom session with 5 girls and they played roblox (computer game) together. 

 

 

she requested cheetos for a snack and spaghetti for dinner, so we delivered. after dinner, we did a zoom call with the whole family (in the midwest, east coast, and china!). azalea opened her gifts - stuffed animals (which she's very into), a nintendo switch game, ladder ball, some jewelry, and a card game. 

 

 

then we sang to her and had the oreo cake with oreo ice cream - another request from the birthday girl.

 

 

 saturday she and i ran some errands in ballard to pick up last minute supplies for her friend party. she invited the same 5 girls from the virtual party to webster park to rollerblade, hang out, and have cupcakes. it was a huge hit. some of the younger brothers also came so ashford was happy :) we had beautiful weather (55 and sunny). some of the parents stayed and hung out too.

does it get any cuter than this?

 

 

i decided to give myself a springy manicure

 

we let the kids stay up past 10pm on friday and saturday night watching harry potter movies. they were thrilled. we were rewarded with an 8am sleep in on sunday ;)

 
 

sunday afternoon azalea and i headed downtown for a special outing. after years of declaring she will never be piercing her ears (too scared), the last few months she started warming up to the idea. i told her if she truly wanted to do it, we could do it for her birthday. i think i was 11 when i got my ears pierced and though she's a little younger, she is very responsible with routines after having a retainer for 2 years now. we made an appointment at claire's and it was super safe and professional given covid. she was very nervous, but stayed calm as a cucumber. thankfully it's a quick procedure. they did both ears at once with an "earring gun". she seemed a little shocked after, but wasn't upset. she was excited to pick out the earrings that went in right away, as well as another pair she can wear in 6 weeks. now we just gotta keep those babies clean :) 

 

after that i got my hair cut for the first time in 7 months. whew - our weekends sure have been busy lately and while it makes me happy to be getting back to some normalcy, it makes them go so fast! 

 

this week the kids have no live instruction monday-wednesday so the teachers can get their classrooms ready and go through training for in person school starting 4/5. they have some independent work to do each day. we will find out later this week if they will be going in the morning or afternoon. exciting times!